1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to a material imaging apparatus which images materials and display obtained images of the materials on a monitor or a screen.
2. Related Art
Japanese Patent No. 4597874 discloses one type of material imaging apparatus comprising a base with a substantially rectangular planar shape, a support pillar standing on a part of the base near a middle front in a right-left direction and having a distal end which is curved so as to project in such a direction that the distal end departs from the base, and an imaging camera pivotally mounted via a first connecting shaft on the distal end of the support pillar within a plane vertical to a base placement surface on which the base is placed.
The imaging camera includes an imaging lens protruding from a side of a lengthwise end of a casing and an operating portion provided on the other lengthwise end of the casing. The imaging camera is further divided into a camera base on which the first connecting shaft is mounted and a camera neck in which the imaging lens is mounted. The location of the first connecting shaft is shifted from the lengthwise central part with respect to the casing so that the distance from the first connecting shaft to the imaging lens is longer than the distance from the first connecting shaft to the operating portion. The camera neck is rotatably mounted on the camera base via a second connecting shaft extending in a lengthwise direction with respect to the casing.
In the above-described material imaging apparatus, the imaging camera is mounted via the first connecting shaft on the support pillar so that the imaging lens thereof is located at either right or left side of the base and so that the imaging camera is pivotable between a horizontal position where the imaging camera is substantially parallel to the base placement surface and a vertical position where the imaging camera droops from a distal end of the support pillar. Furthermore, the camera neck is mounted via the second connecting shaft on the camera base so as to be pivotable between a downwardly vertical position where the imaging lens is directed to the base placement surface when the imaging camera assumes the horizontal position and an optical axis of the imaging lens is perpendicular to the base placement surface, and a horizontal position where the optical axis of the imaging lens is substantially parallel to the base placement surface.
When a material is imaged by the material imaging apparatus, the imaging camera is set to the horizontal position and the imaging lens is set to the downwardly vertical position. The material is placed on either right or left side of the base on the base placement surface thereby to be imaged. Furthermore, a region in front of the base can be imaged when both imaging camera and imaging lens are set to the respective horizontal positions. The imaging camera is set to the vertical position when the material imaging apparatus is not used.
When a material placed on the base placement surface is imaged by the above-described conventional material imaging apparatus, the region at either right or left side of the base on the base placement surface serves as a space in which the material is placed. In this case, the material cannot be placed in the region at the other side of the base to be imaged. The space available as a material placement space is limited.